The past generation has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. This advance has been even further accelerated by the extensive consumer and business involvement in the Internet over the past several years. As a result of these changes, it seems as if virtually all aspects of human endeavor in the industrialized world require human-computer interfaces. These changes have made computer directed activities accessible to a substantial portion of the industrial world's population, which, up to a few years ago, was computer-illiterate, or, at best, computer indifferent.
However, even more significant than these advances in opening new horizons to the general population has been the ability of the computer and the Internet to rescue people with even very severe physical impairments from lives of limited menial or no productivity. With the computer, a person with even slight dexterity or vision may, with sufficient effort, be capable of becoming as fully productive from his desktop as a person with full dexterity or vision.
This is possible because the computer may be tailored to the unique abilities of each individual. To this end, the computer industry is continuously seeking new implementations to bring more and more impaired individuals into full productivity in the workforce.
With an aging population, there is an increasing need to make computer technology readily accessible to visually impaired users. In the past, it was originally necessary to set up special computer operating systems “for the blind”. In such an environment, it was necessary for the visually impaired to arrange for such a set up and then to order from a limited number of special application programs “for the blind”. Because of the limited marketing potential for such special application programs, software providers have obviously kept the visually impaired users out of the mainstream of application programs.
However, as object oriented programming technology developed, it became easier to include in more application programs, an object providing a selectable auditory interface for the visually impaired. Such implementations still had their limitations. For instance, the computer system into which the application program was being installed had to have an auditory engine that was compatible with the routines in the application program object. In addition, the visually impaired user still needed help in the installation of the application program through the provision of a starting auditory interface during installation. Currently, this is being provided by a prerecorded auditory step by step presentation. Using prerecorded auditory presentation limits the flexibility and presentation of options during installation.